How to Stencil a Wall in 2hrs

A month ago I stenciled an accent wall in my living room. You can read about it in my post ‘Marker Wallpaper.‘ This was probably one of the easiest projects I have ever done. Today I’ve decided to share the steps I took to get this look.

Tools/ Equipment:  Sharpie oil-based medium point markers, stencil pattern, level, tape measure

Steps:

1. Find the pattern you want for your stencil. I used Jones Design Company’s stencil pattern.

   

   Stencil Pattern

2. Adjust the stencil according to your needs. To make sure all my sides were perfect I folded the pattern in quarter, traced it on a sheet of paper (that was also folded in four) and then cut the pattern out. It was more accurate than my earlier cut out for the practice wall.
   1. Before painting the pattern with a permanent marker, I tested the pattern with chalk on about 1/8^th of the wall and again with a gold marker on a small wall in the guest room. This was important for me to see if this was something I liked.

      

      Chalk Outline

3. Start with a clean wall. Ours was freshly painted.

   

   Kendall Charcoal by Benjamin Moore

4. Find the centre of the wall; I used a tape to measure the width of the wall. Then begin stenciling from the centre and work out towards the corners. I did an entire column in the centre of the wall before branching off to the sides.
5. I decided that I wanted my inner pattern a bit smaller than the outer ones. To do this I reduced the size of the stem for the inner patterns. For a consistent size, I made a mark on the stencil to know where the inner pattern’s stem should start. I also marked the stencil showing T (for top) just to make sure I held it in the same position throughout the job.
6. I used a level. It made the pattern more accurate.
7. I was able to stencil the entire wall with only one marker. I would suggest getting at least two. As with any marker left opened for too long, the colour tends to fade. To remedy this I had to shake the marker periodically as well as close it for a minute at different intervals.

   

   I worked outwards from the centre of the wall.

8. Then stand back and look at your masterpiece. Be ready to stare at it for days with a pleasant smile.

Marker Wallpaper

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and we had a lovely family dinner. At the end there was hardly any food leftover! It seems as if the excitement wearied my son, he’s been taking marathon ‘naps’ since last night. So… I have some time to share with you my most recent project- Stenciled Accent Wall!

When we did the first tour of our home, before putting in an offer, the wall in the living room had a stone design wallpaper. Thankfully, they removed it before we moved in. Since then I have tossed a few ideas around in my head about what to do to the wall. My brother (13 years old then) suggested built-in bookcases  but based on the overall layout of our space that would be too much.

Then I got hooked to the idea of putting up wallpaper. I found the perfect design and even bought enough rolls to cover the wall. I thought doing a Google search on how to install wallpaper would solve our installation needs, but after reading the steps I grew a bit timid. I didn’t want to mess the paper up or even worst do a not so perfect job. I kept the rolls for about 2 months, and then took them back for a refund.

Months later I got back to thinking about the wall. This time I hunted Kijijji and Craigslist looking for a wallpaper installer before I made another purchase.  The price quotes for were outside of my budget, ranging up to $1000! No way Jose’!

We found one guy that quoted us $180 and his portfolio was quite impressive. But then I started thinking what if I didn’t like the wallpaper after installing it. All that money would go to waste or I’d be stuck with a pricey wall that I don’t like until I could afford to do something else.

I started looking for alternatives. Blogs and Pinterest are littered with lovely stenciled walls, all sorts of designs and colors at a reasonable price. I chose a stencil and was on the brink of ordering one when I came across a painted wall paper tutorial on Jones Design Company. She used a cardboard stencil to create her perfect wall!  She even had a template for free.

I immediately sketched the template from my laptop’s screen (yeah, my printer’s cord got misplaced in the move and the new one has sat at Global industries for a year awaiting pick-up). Got myself a piece of chalk and completed about 1/8 of the wall to see what it would look like. I fell in love! My mom loved it and Hubby loved it!

I was sold…until the reality struck that with such an active child I may not have the time to trace a wall in pencil and then spend time painting the trace marks. I only had time for one run at that wall (there are other projects I’d like to complete before heading back to work).  Also I didn’t like the look of the pencil lines peeping out in some projects that I saw. I needed something quicker and neater.

My pilot using the chalk looked lovely but could be easily wiped off –just not permanent enough.  I started searching for wall markers on Google and came across a marker by Sharpie called “Paint Marker”. I decided to give it a try. I ordered one pack- if it worked I’d order more. The pack had one gold marker and one silver. I tried the gold on a small wall in the guest room, liked it and then moved to our more public area- the living room.

I first painted the wall in Kendall Charcoal and then made a new stencil. It took me about 2.5 hrs to complete the wall. I worked on it while watching TV and interacting with family.  I applied techniques from other bloggers such as folding the paper in 4 to cut the stencil out ,starting from the centre of the wall, and using a level to keep things straight.

This is the best before shot of the wall  I could find (very old pic-first day moving in; in my excitement to get started I forgot to take an updated before shot):

This shows my pilot project- using chalk to create the design on the original wall colour:

 

And this is the result:

 

 

I have no regrets. Yesterday was Thanksgiving and my wall was a hot topic. At first some thought it was wallpaper!  Everyone loved it!

I love it!

Keep posted for the steps I took to stencil my wall using techniques from other bloggers.  Or check out the original tutorial at Jones Design Company.